Baby, it's you
by MirandaLightwoodO'Shea
Summary: AU in which Clint and Natasha meet long way before SHIELD sends him to kill her. In one of her first missions, Natalia finds herself stuck in prison with a boy that seems too comfortable with the situation, they spend all the night talking and the boy makes a promise that he's willing to keep. This fic has Infinity War spoilers.


Natalia fucks up. It's her third mission and the first two had been accomplished smoothly without a single mistake. She has to be flawless as the Red Room didn't expect anything less from the Black Widow, after all. The mission is simple, a child's play even; get some information from an american politician. So she decides to go the easy way: assist to a fancy party, seduce the politician and get the information. She doesn't even have to kill him, something the redhead is not a stranger off even if she 's been only for two months in the business.

It's also the first time that Natalia is by herself which is a nice change. Since the Red Room took her when she was five years old there was always someone monitoring her closely, she also had shared a room with the other girls and trained every day until the graduation. On her first missions, she was accompanied by someone in case she screwed up or tried to escape, something that didn't happen, of course.

What she doesn't expect is to get arrested for drinking alcohol while being a minor, for all things. Sometimes she forgets that drinking in America isn't allowed until the age of 21, something she finds stupid. She isn't even drunk, the policeman was probably in a bad mood and saw her leaving the party and well, she had drunk alcohol and she looks young, she _is_ young, only 18. Natalia feels older, the Red Room does not tolerate the naivety or the behavior that comes with youth.

Natalia has nothing left to do but to try to seduce the cop so he can let her go. To her despair, the policeman doesn't fall and says that he was going to let her go in the morning but now she has to stay the whole day for trying to seduce a cop.

So now she is stuck in jail. The assassin sits at a corner of her little cell in silence, trying to find a way of getting out quickly and without getting attention. The extraction is the next day at four in the afternoon and if her superiors ever find out- she shivers and shakes her head slightly to discard the idea. _You are Black Widow,_ she thinks, _you are getting out of here._

Suddenly she hears the door open and one of the cops appears next to a handcuffed boy close to her age, maybe a little bit older. He is tall, with dark blonde hair but what caught her attention is that he doesn't look scared or even stressed; his body language is secure, confident like he was there all the time.

"Really, Clint, _¿again?"_ the policeman was saying.

"I bet you missed me, Gary" The boy, Clint, smiles.

"I like you, kid, but you can be a pain in the ass," Gary replies.

"Aww, c'mon. I make this place funnier."

"Yeah, tell yourself that."

"Why I can't stay with you instead of being locked here?" Natalia is confused. Were they related or did Clint spend that much time in jail enough to befriend the police?

"Because I have paperwork and you'll probably set the coffee machine on fire."

"It was one time!"

The man opens the cell next to Natalia and the boy gets in without the cop telling him anything, he extends his hands in front of him and the cop opens the handcuffs and then closes the cell.

"Stay out of trouble." And with that, he's gone.

"Yeah, like I could," Clint mutters under his breath.

"Is he your father?" Natalia asks before she can stop herself, she is really curious.

Clint looks at her and the first thing Natalia notices is that he's staring at her like he is evaluating her, like he is wondering if she is dangerous but the spy lets that thought out of her mind, reminding herself that not everyone has her lifestyle and he is probably a frat boy who was arrested at a party. The second thing is that his eyes are of a beautiful shade of blue.

He lets out a laugh.

"Gary? God, no. I just get arrested all the time and now I know everyone about here. What about you?"

Natalia decides to goes with the truth, there's nothing suspicious and the story would match with the one the police had.

"I went to a party and drunk a little bit of alcohol and they stopped me when I was driving home."

"Oh, so that's why you're dressed liked that"

That's when Natalia remembers that she's wearing a pretty elaborated dress. It's long and green with a black lace and it fits in all the right places, making her body shape stand out like it's supposed to when you're trying to seduce a powerful man.

"I snuck up in some fancy party with my friends." she lies easily, "Just wanted to be with different people, you know?

It's easier if he thought she is a regular girl instead of a daughter of a wealthy man. If he thought she is somewhat important he would ask more questions.

"Yeah, I do."

They stay in silence for a few minutes and then:

"And where are your friends?" Clint asks out of nowhere.

"Huh?"

"You said you snuck up with your friends. Where are they?"

"They're home. I was alone when the police pulled me over. I don't know why they did it, I mean, it wasn't like I was drunk or something."

"Shit happens. And by the way, it doesn't make sense you have to be 21 to legally drink. Like, you can join the army at eighteen but god forbid you get a beer"

Natalia laughs, like, _genuinely_ laughed because he said it in a funny tone and she can't remember the last time she did so, much less with someone from her age.

"I know right?"

"Why are you here though?" Clint asks, "You're not a minor, right?"

"No." She answers quickly.

"Then why they didn't let you go?"

She sighs.

"I don't have money with me to pay and I didn't want to call someone cause then my parents will find out and they'll kill me" The KGB would literally kill her and she might have let show fear in her voice. Natalia lets herself believe that it's to be more convincing because showing fear make you vulnerable and being vulnerable in front of someone is nothing but weakness. The Red Room taught her better.

"Hey, don't worry. Maybe I can help you? How much is it anyway?

"897 dollars"

"What?!" His eyes open in shock "I thought you weren't drunk?"

Clint looks at her squinting her eyes.

"You don't look drunk."

"I am not." Natalia clarifies. "I might... tried to seduce the cop so he could let me go."

Natalia expects him to laugh but to her surprise, Clint's shoulders get tense.

"You...?" He doesn't finish the sentence and stares at his legs. Natalia suddenly feels the need to hide. She screwed up. Now Clint probably thinks she's a slut and feels disgusted. "You were really willing to sleep with him so he could let you go?"

"Yes." She answers in a small voice.

"Let me tell you something," She prepares herself for the slut-shaming and tries to remind herself that she is the Black Widow and she doesn't care what a random boy thinks. She was doing what she was trained for, what she had to do.

"I'm not telling you what you should do with your body, that's your choice." Clint continues. "But you are worth it. Never let someone convince you otherwise, okay?"

"Okay"

"When you said your parents will kill you, you weren't joking, were you?" Clint asks quietly.

"No"

"I know what it feels like. My dad used to beat the shit out of me and my brother. So if you ever need someone... I'm here."

The assassin is speechless. For almost her whole life she was treated like a machine. She was told certain things that she started to believe in herself. She realized the world didn't care so why should she care? And then there was this boy that doesn't even know her name offering his help.

"Thanks"

They stay in silence, both lost in their own thoughts but it was comfortable and Natalia likes it.

"How long have we've been here?" Clint asks after a while.

"I don't know. Maybe three hours?"

"This reminds me of that Dog Cops episode. Have you ever watched it?"

Natalia shakes her head and Clint smiles.

"It's so good..."

And they spent the rest of the night talking and laughing, and just for a moment and without the other one knowing, they both feel like normal people for once.

Natalia falls asleep at some point and when the morning comes Clint is gone and the reminder that she isn't normal feels like a punch in the stomach. She is an assassin and a spy and she has a job to do. Two hours pass and she is almost done with her plan to escape before it was time for the extraction when a guard that is not Gary comes and opens her cell.

Next she knows she is getting out of the police station and on her way to her hotel.

After she is safe in her hotel room and has everything ready to go, Natalia opens the purse she had used the night before and finds a little note which says 'I mean what I said' and a number written next to it.

She wants to keep it but if her superiors ever find out about Clint he would be in trouble and she doesn't want to put him in danger because he is the first friend she has ever had.

So Natalia makes a choice and burns the paper, her eyes glassy while she stares at the only connection she had with the boy disappear.

She doesn't want _him_ in the red of her ledger.

It is for the best.

When Nick Fury gives Clint Black Widow's file he is impressed. The woman is good. No one knows very much about her, just that she is a redhead and russian, trained from a very young age in a program called Red Room. What everybody knows is that she is very dangerous. She never leaves trails and her work is usually clean but SHIELD has managed to know exactly where her next move will be and he is sent to kill her.

And now Clint or as his codename is, Hawkeye, sits on the rooftop of an alley in some european city with bow and arrow, ready to take his shot.

He sees how two cars parked in the darkness, from the first one four men get out wearing suits, one of them carrying a briefcase. From the other car a woman wearing black get out: the Black Widow. Hawkeye looks at her with curiosity, her face remaining a mystery with the lack of light. They talk for a few minutes and then the man with the briefcase comes close to her and leaves it in the floor, five feet away from her. Black Widow then takes the briefcase and takes a little look. The archer can only see it coming five seconds before she attacks the men and can only look in awe at how she takes them out quickly and efficiently. Black Widow stands among the fallen men and Hawkeye aims at her, ready to take his shot. Then the moonlight reflects her face. A very familiar face. She looks older and with a different look in her eyes. One that only a person with time in this lifestyle can have. But is still her.

Clint curses.

He never really forgot about the girl in a pretty dress he met years ago. Sometimes he wondered what happened to her and even answered an unknown number on his phone with the hope that it was her.

He remembers the girl a few younger than him that hid very well being scared but he recognised when someone was living in an abusive environment because he had been one of them. He remembers regretting not asking her name. He remembers promising to be there for her. So Clint makes a choice, a very stupid choice and brings the bow down.

There are ashes everywhere. One moment they were fighting and in the other everyone was turning into ash. She looks around, the warriors of Wakanda crying or calling the name of their loved ones. She runs, still in shock to where part of the team was standing with equal shock in their faces. She watches how Steve knees with Vision's body at his feet.

She takes her hands to her stomach, feeling like throwing up. A name immediately comes to her mind and she runs again, this time, away from the group, she leans on a tree, trying to breathe. She takes a burner phone out of one of the many pockets her suit has and calls the only number the phone has registered.

 _Black Widow is finishing her job when she feels footsteps behind her. She moves fastly, pointing her weapon at the sudden intruder. What she doesn't expect is to have in front of her at Clint, that boy she met many years ago in one of her first missions wearing a SHIELD uniform and fucking aiming at her with a bow and arrow._

" _Hey." He says like the current situation is not weird or hostile enough._

" _Clint." She says and even though she has toughened up with the years she can help but say his name quietly._

" _So you remember me," Clint says again smiling._

" _I do. I can't believe that boy that seemed so normal was Hawkeye all along."_

 _She has heard about the assassin with bow and arrow not only because of his strange choice of weapon but also because he was good. Never miss a shot. She just never thought that Hawkeye, the expert marksman and master assassin was the only boy that has been kind to her all these years ago._

" _I remember you, too. And I refuse to believe that that girl I met and spent all night talking to is that soulless, cold person everyone says the Black Widow is."_

" _Maybe I was tricking you." She hesitates._

" _Maybe." Clint admits, "But it felt real… and I made you a promise then, remember? I promised you to be there for you. And I still mean it."_

 _He puts his bow down._

" _Come with me," he continues, "join SHIELD. Redeem yourself."_

" _They will find me and they will kill me."_

" _You will not be alone. We will be ready, they will not see what they've got coming."_

" _That seems a little bit arrogant from you," Natalia says feeling more comfortable._

 _Clint laughs._

" _Well, that's me." He pauses, "So that's a yes?"_

" _Yes."_

 _She drops her gun._

Natasha sits on the floor, still leaning in the tree and hugging his knees with one arm while pressing the phone in her ear with the other. She knows he's on a very important mission and gave her the phone only for a real emergency. And the end of the world seemed like a real, important emergency.

"Pick up, pick up," she mutters.

She closes her eyes and only can see ashes. _Please, not Clint, please, not him._ She prays to a God she doesn't know if it exists.

The phone rings.

One time.

Two.

Three.

"C'mon, Barton. You promised."

Four.

Five.

And then-

"Tasha?"

She breathes.

It's been one day since they defeated Thanos and people across all the universe are still reuniting with their loved ones. The Avengers, for example, chose Wakanda for their reunions. Natasha walks through a field were small groups talk quietly. Pillows and blankets lying around for everyone to sit in the chilly night.

On one side, Steve and Bucky talk in hushed tones, oblivious to everything else. _Always inseparable,_ she thinks, feeling happy for the man that turned to be like a brother to her. Close to them stand Thor and Loki staring at the horizon. Natasha still doesn't trust Loki and she is sure the team does neither but no one has the heart to say anything for now after looking the grief in Thor's eyes when he though his brother was gone.

The royal family and Okoye stay together a little bit away from everyone else and a few feet away from them the aliens that call themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy. They hear eighties tunes while they laugh, giving the atmosphere a little bit more of joy.

Tony sits with a kid under his arms, hugging him closely. _Spider-Man,_ she thinks, _Peter_. She remembers Tony talking non-stop about him while they worked in reversing the snap. She also remembers the overexcited boy fighting with them in Germany in what it seemed so long ago. Next to Tony and the kid are Pepper, Rhodey, Bruce, Carol and the two wizards, whose names she doesn't know. While she passes them she gives Tony a little smile and he smiles back, even though he could be a pain in the ass and all their differences she still considered him a friend and she was happy that he got his kid back.

Close to them are Scott, Hope, Janet, Hank, Sam and Clint. Behind them, Wanda and Vision with his new body talk quietly.

Natasha looks at Clint and winks at him, then keeps walking to be closer to the cliff. She sits and stares at the stars and the sea. She closes her eyes, finally feeling at peace. Thanos is gone and the team is together again, they will work their problems out. She opens her eyes again when she feels Clint sitting next to her.

Natasha looks at the sky and thinks of all the families that are being reunited all across the universe and she can't believe that they were part of the plan that made it happen.

"Nothing we ever trained for, right?" Clint says like he's reading her mind. That's not even necessary, they know each other inside and out.

"You know me so well." Years ago, Natasha would have never made that declaration but she learned to trust and love and now she had a team that got her back too but Clint was the person she trusted the more in the entire world and she loved him so much that sometimes it scared her.

"We've come a long way," Clint says.

It was true. They have known each other for more than 15 years. Clint was the most constant thing in his life.

"I can still remember that girl that was so nervous about her parents finding out about getting arrested." Clint continues, "I thought you were in an abusive household and because I know it from first hand I just couldn't let that happen. So I begged Barney to pay your bail."

"You really did that?" Natasha can't believe it. All these years she had thought that Clint had left the note when he got out and that the cop had scared her about getting more time in jail. After all, when they talked that night Natasha learned that Clint didn't have a lot of money. But Barney did and he probably had made him pay with a target.

"I promised, remember?"

Natasha gives him the smile that it's dedicated to only him and takes his hand, caressing his calloused fingers.

"I do. And I've got your back, too."

"I know."

Later that night, when everyone is sleeping in the guest rooms of the Wakandan Palace, Clint wakes up in the middle of the night and grabs his phone to check the time. While he's waiting for his eyes to adjust to the light, Natasha rolls in the bed to face him even though her eyes are still closed.

"Go back t' sleep" her mumble filled with sleep.

"In a minute." He mutters back because there's a notification from the bank. $897.45 dollars have been wired to his account.

The exact amount of the bail.

He smiles and leaves the phone on the night table and hugs Natasha closely, the redhead hums while she rests her head in his chest. Both fall asleep instantly and it's the best rest they've had in a long time, with no nightmares at all.

 **A/N: Hey guys! It's finally done! I hope you like it. It's my first fic ever in** english (i'm sorry if it has grammar mistakes) **and also the first for the Marvel fandom so** i'm **really excited. I know it has some Avengers 4 content and a lot of characters will die but I wanted them to be happy, ok? Anyways I know that the bail thing is probably wrong but just imagine it makes sense. Also, the idea based on this** tumblr **post: ( post/113908702737/clintasha-headcanon-that-the-first-time-that-clint) and I just developed the idea. If you want to follow my tumblr look for mirandalightwood (the main one) and hawkwardronin (my clintasha/clint barton side blog). I guess that's all. Bye!**


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